Rays prospects and minor leagues: McKay strikes out career-high 9

Brendan McKay may be in a slump at the plate, but it’s certainly not affecting him at the mound. In his last two starts, he has 16 strikeouts and no walks.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (10-10)

Durham limited Gwinnett to two hits in a 3-0 win over the Stripers. With projected starter Chih-Wei Hu, Forrest Snow filled in admirably, throwing five scoreless innings. He now has 18 straight scoreless innings. The Bulls’ offense was also quiet for much of the game, but in the ninth, Micah Johnson’s two-run single capped a three-run frame.

1B Jake Bauers: 0-for-5, 3 K
SS Willy Adames: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K
LF Joe McCarthy: 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K
DH Justin Williams: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K

RHP Forrest Snow: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K
RHP Ian Gibaut: 1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Double-A Montgomery Biscuits (8-15)

Montgomery was no-hit in a 1-0 loss to Mobile. The Biscuits drew seven walks, but it was not enough to produce a run against top-10 Angels prospect Griffin Canning and two relievers. Canning threw five innings, Matt Custred pitched the next three, and Ryan Clark closed it out in the ninth. Montgomery starter J.D. Martin allowed a run in 6 ¹⁄₃ innings with five strikeouts.

2B Nick Solak: 0-for-3, 1 BB
LF Brandon Lowe: 0-for-4, 1 K
DH Ryan Boldt: 0-for-1, 1 K (entered as pinch-hitter)
SS Jermaine Palacios: 0-for-2, 1 BB

RHP J.D. Martin: 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Class A-Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs (11-12)

Nate Lowe homered again, but it was not enough in Charlotte’s 5-4 loss to Tampa. Lowe’s three-run homer in the first was his third dinger in the last two games, but the Tarpons were able to chip away. Brock Burke struck out six and allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings, and Tampa went ahead against J.D. Busfield, who was charged with three runs in an inning.

CF Josh Lowe: 0-for-4, 1 BB, 4 K
2B Miles Mastrobuoni: 1-for-3, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K
1B Nate Lowe: 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB
DH David Rodriguez: 2-for-3, 1 BB

LHP Brock Burke: 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Class-A Bowling Green Hot Rods (11-11)

Brendan McKay was sharp again in Bowling Green’s 4-2 win over Lake County. On his way to a career-high nine strikeouts, the lefty struck out five consecutive batters between the first and second innings. He would allow one run in five innings, his longest outing of the season. The Hot Rods’ offense provided him with early support with three runs in the first two innings.

2B Vidal Brujan: 0-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K
DH Ronaldo Hernandez: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 2 K
3B Adrian Rondon: 0-for-4, 3 K

LHP Brendan McKay: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K

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Sunday’s games (probables courtesy of milb.com)

Durham @ Gwinnett 1:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Ryan Weber (0-0, 0.00) vs. Mike Soroka (2-0, 1.99)

Montgomery vs. Mobile 3:05 p.m. ET (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Eduar Lopez (1-2, 7.02) vs. Jose Suarez (1-0, 2.08)

Charlotte @ Tampa 1 p.m. ET (radio stream)
Brandon Lawson (0-2, 5.68) vs. Adonis Rosa (2-1, 4.82)

Bowling Green vs. Lake County 3:05 p.m. ET (radio stream)
TBA vs. TBA

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta)
7-13 (4th in IL South)
Offense: 68 R (8th) .683 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.31 ERA (6th) 1.31 WHIP (6th)
Top-30 prospects: RHP Mike Soroka (3), LHP Kolby Allard (7), RHP Patrick Weigel (16), OF Dustin Peterson (24), LHP Philip Pfeifer (29), OF Jaff Decker, “3B” Jose Bautista

Mobile BayBears (Angels)
11-11 (2nd in SL South)
Offense: 86 R (4th) .728 OPS (4th)
Pitching: 4.56 ERA (10th) 1.47 WHIP (8th)
Top-30 prospects: 1B Matt Thaiss (8), RHP Griffin Canning (9), RHP Jesus Castillo (12), LHP Jose Suarez (13), OF Brennon Lund (18), 3B Taylor Ward (19), RHP Luis Pena (20), RHP Jake Jewell (25), 2B Riley Unroe

Tampa Tarpons (Yankees)
13-10 (2nd in FSL North)
Offense: 85 R (5th) .693 OPS (7th)
Pitching: 2.95 ERA (1st) 1.20 WHIP (1st)
Top-30 prospects: OF Estevan Florial (2), RHP Albert Abreu (6), SS Thairo Estrada (9), RHP Freicer Perez (13), RHP Clarke Schmidt (14), RHP Trevor Stephan (18), RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (25), SS Diego Castillo (27)

Lake County Captains (Cleveland)
11-10 (3rd in MWL East)
Offense: 97 R (3rd) .741 OPS (2nd)
Pitching: 3.93 ERA (8th) 1.37 WHIP (9th)
Top-30 prospects: 3B Nolan Jones (4), OF Will Benson (10), OF Oscar Gonzalez (20), IF Ernie Clement (24), RHP Eli Morgan (29)

Daily news and links

Baseball America and MLB.com both rolled out updates to their draft rankings.

There were dozens of scouts and executives in Gainesville Thursday as top draft prospects Casey Mize and Brady Singer went head to head.